WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), teamed up with Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), to press USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue to increase the agency’s efforts to speed funding for food aid appropriated by Congress to those in need.

Congress appropriated $36 billion to the USDA to help it respond to the coronavirus pandemic, including for critical nutrition assistance and direct support to agricultural producers. However, only 20 percent of those funds have been obligated even as demand increases and farmers suffer.

“Particularly troubling is the delay in getting nutrition assistance out the door to address growing food insecurity across the country… This money should be getting out to the people who need it, not stuck in Washington caught up in red tape,” the senators wrote.

Vital programs like The Emergency Food Assistance Program, which supports the country’s food banks, have only obligated a fraction of the funding that Congress appropriated—leaving $1 billion appropriated for child nutrition programs untapped.